The Sontaran Experiment

On a desolated earth in the far future, the Fourth Doctor, Harry and Sarah bump into a Sontaran.

The best thing about this story is that it is so short. I can't believe the writers was so generous to us as to cut this story short. Just imagine how awful this story would be if it was stretched to four episodes. That would be real torture.

I am really not sure what the point of this story was. Did they just want to fill in a gap? Or were that desperate to bring back a Sontaran that they could not bother to write a decent story for one?

Followin the grand tradition of Terry Nation Dalek stories, the viewer is supposed to be surprised at the cliffhanger to see a Sontaran, despite the story being entitle The Sontaran Experiment. This does not make any sense, but neither does the central premise of the story. Why are the Sontarans wanting to experiment on humans when the earth is uninhabited? Why are they holding up their invasion fleet for the completion of a bunch of experiments that actually seem rather pointless? You might also think that Styre would look a bit like Linx if they were both clones too.

The fact that there is hardly any story just makes the rather horrible torture scenes unpleasent. If there was an exciting story going on, it would be rather more forgiveable. It is fun watching Styre shrivel up at the end, however.

Harry is great in this story. Sarah is a bit wet. Tom Baker is good, though the writer's don't quite seem sure of his personality at this point. The guest performances are not terribly interesting. It does not last long enough for one to generate much interest in them anyway.

You only need to watch this one if you are a true fan who watches every story.